Thursday, February 28, 2008

A bloody day

Since the killing of an Israeli in Sederot, Israel began shelling Gaza.
The total number of Palestinians killed was 17, including six children, and one baby seven months old.
They bombed many places of Hamas ,and some factories. I can hear the sound of aircraft clearly, I hear gunfire in all directions violence is back again ,and they still want to use power again.
For more than fifty years, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are using the power language to solve the conflicts ,and the result is more violence and more destruction, the history of the our conflicts approved that the power language will not solve the problem, but they still are this power.
As they used the power in the past years, why don’t they try the language of peace. We expect more attacks, will attack many places in Gaza, and will be very dangerous and painful.
Its was a bloody day in Gaza and I am sure it's the same with my friend hope man.
I still don’t understand till now, what do they want to achieve by the continuance of violence .
Why they want to kill any chance of hope and peace ?
I wish I can get answer to my question.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Endless senssless circle of blood

This morning 5 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli air strike.
Associated Press wrote: "An Israeli aircraft blew up a minivan carrying Hamas gunmen in southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing five militants including two key commanders involved rocket attacks on Israel, the militant group said."

Following the incident, we knew this would be a dangerous day in Sderot. Around 14:30 the alerts started sounding and the rockets falling. Until now I estimate 20 rockets fell.

Just half an hour ago a rocket hit Sapir college and one man was killed by a direct hit another was wounded.

We expect more attacks and therefor stay close to our safe room. The kids were planning to buy costumes for Purim (Jewish holiday on which kids dress up in costumes). I told them we cannot go out today since it's too dangerous.

I have not written for several days, however it has not been quiet. Rockets have been falling every day. Not very frequent but 1-3 alerts a day which keep us very alert.

The day before yesterday, a kid who is a friend of my neighbors kid was injured (An alert was just heard a minute ago so I stopped writing and ran to the safe room with my kids, wife and neighbors kids, I am back...)
The kid's shoulder was crushed and he was operated and is still hospitalized.

I spoke to Peace man a couple days ago and asked him about 3 young Palestinians that were killed a few days before by an Israeli attack. Israel claimed that they were militants about to shoot rockets, but Peace man said that a friend of his went to the place they were killed and saw that they were killed inside a house while eating lunch and are not affiliated with any militant group.

The endless senseless situation is still going on. More innocent people are being killed, injured, traumatized.

Israel continues it's "Preventive Attacks" while the Hamas and other militant groups continue their attacks. Each retaliating to the other's attacks. Endless senseless circle of blood and stupidity.

(Another rocket just fell very close to our home. There was no alert this time. Very scary.)

Follow up: Following the rocket attacks on Sderot and the killing of a civilian, Israel attacked in the center of Gaza killing 2 children and badly wounding a third. In addition 12 other civilians were wounded in another attack. What good could that have done bringing even more pain and desperation?

Friday, February 22, 2008

We are the majority

I was reading the comments this morning ,and when I wanted to reply to comments I found another, encouraging me more and more .
I used to say we are the majority in the world, the people who want peace are more than those who want war, but the majority is not being heard.

All governments are saying that the violence should be ended.
My question is : where are these governments?
Why the international governments don’t put PRESSURE to end this violence?
If they cant do it that is why we civilians don’t do it ,why we don’t create new future with hope, peace and love.
We don’t have to wait till more people die ,lets start now.
As my friend hope man , Things may not change very fast but little by little hope can be created and we the ordinary people can help in building a better future.
People on both sides want to know how many are supporting this peace.
What we see in the media is government speakers, but they don’t see you as civilians.
Am sure if more people join us ,the picture will be clear to others and we will achieve our goals .

Thursday, February 21, 2008

All is possible

Dear Peace man,

It's a sunny day in Sderot as well.

People may not be aware that if the borders were open and checkpoints removed it would take me 25 minutes to visit you. The distance in a straight line is less than 10 kilometers, so we share the exact same weather.
It has been a very beautiful day, and our area is famous for its red anemone flowers that bloom at this time of the year and cover vast areas painting the hills and fields in bright red. Quite an amazing view.

No rockets fell today. I usually do not mention it when it's quiet since we all have some superstitious beliefs and saying "it has really been quiet today" is not something people dare to say. To often this quiet is short lived and sounds of war return.

From our many conversations I know how frustrating and difficult life is in Gaza. Our life in Sderot is very stressful and frustrating; however it cannot be compared with what you are going through there. Only 10 kilometers away.

I truly believe there is hope for change. I truly believe that we are the majority. We who want to live a normal life.

We need to keep this dialog going and have as many people as possible join. We need to be able to control our destiny and not be led to believe that violence in our region is a fact that cannot be disputed.
Things may not change very fast but little by little hope can be created and we the ordinary people can help in building a better future.

My dream is that many Palestinians from Gaza, the west bank and over the globe and many Israeli's from Sderot, Israel and around the globe and many other ordinary people from around the globe join our call to stop violence and allow us to live a normal life.

Once this is achieved all is possible.

Sunny Day

Today it's sunny and quiet day in Gaza.
There is no special activity or military operations and we hope every day would be quiet on both sides and over the world.
But still the siege controls our life. The borders are still closed and we have electricity for three to six hours a day, though in some areas they have more.
Most of the supplies are not available in Gaza and what is available is more than double in price. There is unemployment because most of the factories are closed because they can't import or export.
Thousand of students lost the chance to continue there education abroad, because of the borders situation.
This morning I was with my friend in the market ,he was not optimistic because of the situation, and he wants to leave Gaza when the border will open , to live normal life.
I told him ,I do dream to live in normal life without any violence ,but we have to face this situation and fight for peace.
I don’t blame my friend ,because sometimes I have the same feeling ,but really when I talk with my friend Hope man, I really get the energy to work and continue ,and also I get a lot of energy to see so many people supporting our dream of peace.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

one voice

Dear all,
We would like to thank all of you for your support and for you encouraging us to continue. I am so glad that we have people from over the world reading our blog. I think this our time as civilians to call to stop this violence
I know its not easy to do, but I believe if all people who care about peace will be one voice then something will happen.
I believe that a lot of people would like to do some thing to help ,and I think we are the first step then we all will think how we will go to the next step.
The peace organizations should be more active. When its was quiet we used to see them having activities more often, but now when we don't see them as much, and the governments in all the world they can make change and stop this violence. My belief is that if the people abroad show their governments that we want to end this violence, then maybe something will change.
Let's do what the governments are not doing. Lets be one voice stop this violence.

Spread the word

We wish to thank everyone who has been sending their support! Thank you! We are by far the majority!!!

We are overwhelmed seeing that the blog is gaining momentum! People do care even though governments seem to be indifferent to the situation.

Many visitors have been asking on the blog what we feel can be done.

This was the whole point for writing it:
1. Having the world know what is happening from the personal perspective.
2. Showing that people on both sides are seeking the same thing: An End to Violence that may lead to talks, that may lead to more talks, that may lead to peaceful measures that may eventually lead to a better and hopeful future to both sides.
So simple!

What can you do?
1. Spread the word. Let your friends know about the blog.
2. Keep posted. If any initiatives grows from this blog they will be posted here.
(RSS link: http://gaza-sderot.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default)

Thanks again.

Monday, February 18, 2008

More civilians die

Eight Palestinians, including a senior Islamic Jihad leader and his wife and three of his children were killed in an Israeli air stirke on a house in the Al-Bureij refugee camp and many of civilians , near Gaza City in the central Gaza Strip on Friday night. 80 others were wounded in the densely populated residential neighborhood.Eyewitnesses said that an Israeli F-16 aircraft fired at least one missile that hit the home of Al-Quds Brigades commander The three-story building was completely destroyed.
Israel government said thatthey are not responsible for this attack ,and they say its internal bomb .
both of them blaming each other and more civilians die every day ,and the situation is getting worse and worse ,and no body cares about what is going on in Gaza .
Off course the Palestinians organization will not stop what they are doing and it will increase. They will continue to attack Israeli positions, and Israelis army will do the same and this will take us to dark future .
I don’t know if they think of us as civilians ,and understand that this will not stop violence ,but will increase the hate .

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Before it is too late

It has been quiet for several days now.
An alert was just heard a couple minutes ago, and I hope it will be a single alert that is not a sign of a new shower of rockets. I did not hear the blast and hope it fell in an open field.

On Saturday a rocket hit with no warning. The blast was massive and the alert did not work this time. I got to the place which was about 300 meters from our home and a large crowd, police and ambulances were already there. The rocket fell on a side walk several meters from 2 kids that were injured. The younger kid (8) was severely hit and his leg had to be amputated. This is the worst event in some time. There have been many rockets but no severe injuries lately. In the past rockets have also caused fatalities.

The incident created a very strong impact in the town and was covered in depth by the media and more and more Israeli's are calling to enter Gaza with force, and "once and for all solve the Qassam rockets from being launched to Sderot and the area".

Citizens from Sderot have been protesting in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv calling to end the situation NOW.

Sderot is a small immigrant town of less that 20,000 people. It was built in the mid fifties. Most people have made a living from hard labor. The government and state institutions had never paid much attention to the town and the needs of people here and in other such towns in Israel. The people in Sderot now feel deserted. The rockets are falling and no one is doing anything about it.
The current civilian protest is in favor of solving the situation by forceful means.

This forceful solution that people are calling for is out of deep frustration and fear, and not out of a clear and thoughtful mind of what may happen once such a solution is put into action.

Israel has used much force over the past years in attempt to stop the rockets.
No forceful solutions has helped. On the contrary, the more force used, the more rockets have been launched.

The violent acts of the hammas have been feeding this violence machine by giving Israel excuses to attack and at the same time giving no future to their people.

And we the civilians are caught in the middle of this mindless and useless insanity causing us more and more pain, fear and frustration.

I call to the people Israeli's and Palestinians alike: Don't be fooled by your leaders to think that only violence will change your life for the better. All it will do is cause pain and lead to disaster.

Stop the violence before it is too late!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

summer camp

After several meeting between me and hope man ,we decided to do something for our people away from the violence situation ,and try to build good environment for them
After long discussion between both of us ,and from different projects we reached and agreed to make (summer camp Between sederot and Gaza ) we said that’s may be our children will change the future and we have to start from them ,and teach them how to love ,and what the meaning of peace ,as our leader still continuing dealing with violence way .
I left to tell my friend abut the project ,and hope man started to set plan .
Hope man start to tell his friends and international people about the project .
Both of us was so happy that’s finally will do something make our kids have break from tanks –rockets and from killing language .
we agreed to meet again with our group to set the date and places will visit and all the details ,but again the violence stopped this project as the other .
the project still in our mind and we believe that’s one day will be true ,and I hope that the violence will end and we will have peace over the world .

Friday, February 8, 2008

Again stop the violence on both sides

It's really great when it's quiet and ,my friend hope man called me yesterday and was worried about me because he heard Sven people were killed in Gaza ,and he told me about the rocket and his neighbor ,so no body is safe on both sides ,but the question is what do the leaders on both sides want to reach ? and where is the world?
We as civilians are not safe but of course the leaders are safe so why should they care about us?
Leaders on both sides understand that violence makse life difficult ,can't make any good result ,so why do they continue? Palestinians will not stop if Israel continues and Israel does the same.
So this will take us to a dark future ,and the end will be so bad.
My voice is with my friend stop the violence on both sides ,we need GOOD people to change this situation .

Peace trees

after the unfortunate bombing of civilians by the Israeli army in Bet-Hanoun near Gaza in November 2006 in which more than 20 were killed. a few Israelis, Palestinians and Internationals were able to meet, and share their feelings about the situation and discuss what can be done.
My friend D was so angry and sad because what happened and he want to do some thing that will prove to the Palestinians and the world that many Israelis not agree about what happened in Gaza ,so he asked how we can support these people and how can we express our caring .
We came up with an idea to plant 10000 tree in Gaza ,and its was good idea , we said if they destroy the future we will build again and will continue to build and we stick with hope to change ,
We started and D said we should buy these tree from Gaza to build the economy and support the Gaza people, and D wished that if he could come and plant trees in Gaza.
We in Gaza talked with authority about the project ,and a lot op people were willing to help ,and D started to collected the money for the project ,and every thing was ready to start ,but the situation Gaza started to get worst and now we could'nt do anything ,but we still have the hope to do it someday.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

When the rocket hits

Yesterday was quiet. Quiet until…

Until about 5:15 PM when a rocket alert was heard. I happened to already be in our safe room and several others came in when a very strong blast was heard. I waited several seconds and then rushed out since it was clearly close. I saw a large smoke cloud in the middle of our street. I shouted to a group of people at the top of the street asking "where did it fall". No one knew and at that moment I saw my neighbor coming out of her house shouting "it hit my house" I ran towards her and saw that she was unhurt. She told me no one is hurt and but her 2 older kids are still in the house and she is going to look for her youngest child who was not home during the blast. I ran into the house and helped the two kids out from within the wreckage and the cloud of smoke and dust. It was hard to breath. The two kids came out unhurt and told me there is no one else in the house. By this time many people had arrived and within minute the police and other emergency crews arrived. Cameras were flickering everywhere and it seemed as though everyone wanted to be part of this horrific event.

The damage to the house was pretty bad and after a while crowd of spectators and media started to disperse.

This is the first time a rocket falls and hits a house in our street. It is a terrible feeling that no place is safe. We are so thankful that no one was injured but are also aware that next time it may be different and that in previous events people were not as lucky.

The rockets must stop if any kind of normality can come back to our town.

I once again call to stop the violence on both sides. Innocent people are being hurt everyday and the only thing that keeps us going is the hope that someday it will change.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Violent again

Last night was one of the worst.
Since two days the situation is getting worse in Gaza same as in Sederot.
It started with shooting between Egyptian and Palestinians who wanted to leave the border open ,and now from Israeli helicopter and F16 ,and they say in the news the Israel army will attack Gaza. Many Palestinians have been killed and injured
Violennce has been the only way both side use till now ,and they don’t think or they don’t want to think of a different way to solve the situation.
My call this time to the world and peace institution who care about peace ,what is your plans ,why you are watching us till now.
Why do we have to pay the leaders bill from both sides ,I think we have the right to live normally like all the world. I didn’t see my friend hope man for one year now because of what’s going on now.
The problem is that leaders on both side understand that violence won't change the situation ,and just create more hate in both side, but I think because they have normal life so they don't care about the other ,I don’t think they want the life to be normal to serve their agenda.
Am writing this and I heard 2 big explosions ,I hope nobody was killed or injured., please my friend hope man take care of your self and your family .

Sunday, February 3, 2008

They are back

My wife and I took a walk yesterday afternoon in the fields near Sderot. The weather was excellent, and I was thinking how nice it is to have a whole week without rockets. Once in a while the rockets stop for rather long periods and it's so easy to get used to a somewhat normal life. On the one hand we are aware that they may be back anytime and on the other we have this hope that maybe they are gone for good...
While walking back home the dreaded siren started alerting the shooting of rockets. We lay flat on the ground covering our heads. No place to hide out in the open. There were 3 alerts one after the other and then 2 very loud blasts. After a couple of minutes we got up and continued on our way with haste since we left the kids at home. Soon we saw police cars and an ambulance near the town cemetery which was on our path back home. A rocket fell between the trees near the cemetery. No one was directly hit. There were 2 people which were close to where the rocket fell being treated for trauma inside the ambulance and a bunch of kids with bikes circling the area.

The rockets are back. When we got back the kids seemed fine. They were at a friends house and hid in the safety room. They did not even mention the rockets to us until we asked them. They did however say before going to sleep that they rather sleep in the safe room than in their own bedroom...

The news mentioned the rockets only on the radio in the hourly broadcast.
The 8 o'clock news on TV did not mention a thing. The snow in the Hermon and the internal political situation are much more interesting to the average Israeli than a small town in the south being bombed. Especially when no one was physically injured or killed. It's not really news...

Until now only violent ways have been have been attempted in solving the situation. It has not worked and no one really believes it will.
The logical conclusion is that it's time to try something else... Let's talk with each other and find a way to easy everyones pains.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Persistance

Dear Peace man.
I was quite a task getting your relative to the hospital in Israel. He was completely handicapped and yet was not allowed through for "security reasons". What security threat can a man with a bullet in his spine which cannot even move his limbs create? Many people were involved in helping him come through and I thank them all for their humanity and ability to take action when so needed.
In this case our persistence may have saved your relatives life.
His recovery has been slow but he is now treated in an excellent hospital and his condition has improved dramatically over time.
There have unfortunately been cases when injured people did not make it on time to hospitals in Israel for similar reasons.
Our region is full of despair and yet there are many cases of people helping each other.
I encourage our visitors to share such stories of hope in the midst of these seemingly helpless times.

A Real story

In the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah my relative was injured close to the head, the hospital said that he should be transferred to Israel because his case is critical, and when the hospital started to transfer him they informed by the Israeli side that he is rejected for security reason .
I called my friend hope man ,I told him the story, he was so angry because of this, and he started to call his friends to help my relative to go to the hospital, also our friend D called my and both promised me to do there best
It was so difficult for us to get him out ,but in the same time its was great to see how the humanity can make different ,
in the end my friends managed to get out of Gaza to the hospital and they went to visit him many times .
I hope this short story can show you what kind of relationship can be between both sides, and am sure that there are many stories that have happened with other people ,and I promise you that we will make our future different than what we have now
In the end ,I would like to thank my friend Hope man and D ,and I wish to meet you soon .